Greetings Families,
I have two things to address with you about work you will be receiving tomorrow.
Tomorrow, your child, if present Friday, should be coming home with their first weekly participation report. This is first filled out by the student and then adjusted by me if necessary. Some students are a little easy on themselves, while most are a little too harsh. You can tell my notes as they are darker in the photocopies I am sending home. I have also given some students comments or goals, which can be found in the box at the bottom.
There are two areas of which I would like to address with you before you receive these. If your child received poor marks, there are six weeks left for them to bring their grades up in the participation category. The students know my expectation as we discuss these regularly, but they may not have realized how important they are to their grades. This is a way for them to have that reality set it. In addition, if a student is having a really hard time meeting the class expectation now, but shows improvement as the quarter progresses, I am the final arbitrator of my grade book. I can adjust grades in the participation section if necessary and according to a student's effort.
Some of you will also notice deductions due to tardies. As discussed during "Curriculum Night," a child is expected to be in his or her seat when the bell rings, or moments after. I am gracious if I see a student making haste. He should also have all of his homework turned in, items out of his backpack, and supplies ready. If any of these things are not the case, he is counted as tardy. Students who are tardy lose two points from their class expectation score. If a student is tardy all five days, the student would lose half of the possible points for the week. Please make sure you are dropping your child off well before the school day begins. A parent's lateness is not an excuse for a child's tardy. If your child is being dropped off early enough, but fails to have himself or herself ready for the day on time, my consequence for their irresponsibility is poor marks on their weekly participation report. I leave any additional consequences to be administered at home to parental discretion.
Thank you for your support. It is my hope that these consistent expectations will result in students who take personal responsibility for their actions and learning, with the byproduct being persons who excel in regard to intellectual and moral virtue.
Best,
Michael Naaktgeboren
I have two things to address with you about work you will be receiving tomorrow.
Weekly Participation Report
Tomorrow, your child, if present Friday, should be coming home with their first weekly participation report. This is first filled out by the student and then adjusted by me if necessary. Some students are a little easy on themselves, while most are a little too harsh. You can tell my notes as they are darker in the photocopies I am sending home. I have also given some students comments or goals, which can be found in the box at the bottom.
There are two areas of which I would like to address with you before you receive these. If your child received poor marks, there are six weeks left for them to bring their grades up in the participation category. The students know my expectation as we discuss these regularly, but they may not have realized how important they are to their grades. This is a way for them to have that reality set it. In addition, if a student is having a really hard time meeting the class expectation now, but shows improvement as the quarter progresses, I am the final arbitrator of my grade book. I can adjust grades in the participation section if necessary and according to a student's effort.
Some of you will also notice deductions due to tardies. As discussed during "Curriculum Night," a child is expected to be in his or her seat when the bell rings, or moments after. I am gracious if I see a student making haste. He should also have all of his homework turned in, items out of his backpack, and supplies ready. If any of these things are not the case, he is counted as tardy. Students who are tardy lose two points from their class expectation score. If a student is tardy all five days, the student would lose half of the possible points for the week. Please make sure you are dropping your child off well before the school day begins. A parent's lateness is not an excuse for a child's tardy. If your child is being dropped off early enough, but fails to have himself or herself ready for the day on time, my consequence for their irresponsibility is poor marks on their weekly participation report. I leave any additional consequences to be administered at home to parental discretion.
Thank you for your support. It is my hope that these consistent expectations will result in students who take personal responsibility for their actions and learning, with the byproduct being persons who excel in regard to intellectual and moral virtue.
Grammar Assignment
You will also be receiving a grammar homework assignment from last week. I was very happy to see the labeling of sentences that the students did, as they appear to know what a verb and subject noun is. However, a number of students received very poor marks for this assignment due to a failure to pay attention to detail, which is one of my class expectations. Many students neglected to label their papers correctly, did not use the margins appropriately, and/or failed to use proper grammar while writing their sentences (such as ignoring capitalization and punctuation rules). As fourth grade students, I expect them to pay attention to detail and to give me their best effort every time. No matter how mundane adding a period on the end of a sentence may be, they should be striving for excellence in all things.
Best,
Michael Naaktgeboren